Almost Timeless
by Yueres De Leo
Summary: The 'I made a promise to overcome this' card was by far one the most amusing ideas Hanamiya Makoto could put to good use on a match. It was just refreshing to see the disgusted reactions when he revealed it obviously was a lie. When it tried to backfire, and she was the one holding the gun, he didn't find it amusing at all. OC
1. Timeless

**A/N: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke.**

 **A/N: Engish is not my first language.**

* * *

"You look horrible"

There was an edge of absolute boredom to his voice when he opened the door that afternoon with almost lazy movements, his face absolutely blank as he yawned, stepping inside and loudly dropping his bag onto the floor without a single care in the world. Curled into a ball, laying on her side, the girl looked up at him with dark circles under her eyes, a tired expression on her face even when she smiled. To Makoto the beeping sound of the machine as background noise was a sickening thing itself, and everything about it annoyed him to no end, even though he couldn't say when he had started to hate it so much. Maybe it was when he realized it interrupted the necessary silence that even he needed when he tried to read or eat, but surely it was not when the monitor first appeared in the room. No, because that was stupid.

"I'm happy to see you too"

"I just came because the pudding is surprisingly good, who said anything about coming to see you?" It was not a long way from the door to the chair, and it was not a lot of work to literally steal the chocolate treat from the food tray on top of the small table pushed over her body, dragging his eyes away from the almost untouched food as he sat down; thing was, it only took that to notice the thing that wasn't there the day before, or the day before that, a small plastic like object connected to a machine that most certainly wasn't there before. He frowned at the new addition, feeling as if the green button which her finger was hovering over was mocking him, somehow feeling unable to ignore the way she was holding the thing with somehow a firm grasp even when the rest of her body seemed to lack strength "What's that?"

She shifted, eyes slowly and tiredly focusing on whatever he was looking at, the corner of her lips curling in an awkward angle. It was what he had come to identify as an attempt of what once used to be a grimace, maybe as big as his smirk could be when he wanted, but lacking everything he felt and showed when he made that particular facial expression- He had heard about it before, 'It's like watching a mirror, two sides of the same thing'. She was the reflection of what he didn't mind not being. The other half, the better half, and because she was actually good at it, naturally good, just like he was naturally good at breaking people into pieces, he didn't need to worry about something as trivial as good traits or good actions, charity or sympathy; as the better half, she made up for him as well.

"Painkillers"

He hummed rather distractedly, raising an eyebrow at the numbers on the small screen, taking hold of the small spoon as he started to eat. At the last moment, Makoto snorted, smirking down at her while leaning his arms on top of the side railing of the bed.

"Looks like a toy, does it even work?"

The annoying, sickening and totally useless beeping of the machine almost drowned the sound of breathless laugher, and the pudding was distraction enough to not directly see eyes closing rather slowly. It was not enough, though, to not see the small yet tired smile on a pale face.

"Not really"

He pretended he didn't hear those murmured words.

"You have a match"

It was not a question, it was a statement meant by someone who had seen how he was dressed, but even then he found himself looking down at the uniform he was wearing and conscious of the bag besides the door, the phone that probably was vibrating with texts inside it, teammates probably wondering where the hell he was. The basketball player almost scratched clean the inside of the pudding cup, frowning when there was nothing else to eat, wordlessly throwing the thing inside the trash bin.

"It's of practice"

"I want to see you play" She looked up at him with glassy eyes, body turning over itself until she was able to lay completely face up. Lips were pressed into a thin line when that happened, small finger pressing the annoying green button, numbers on the new screen changing ever so slightly, sickening beeping sound slowing down it's rhythm by a quarter, maybe even less. She didn't pay attention to it, so neither did Makoto; She didn't comment on it, so neither did him. Instead, the teenager raised an eyebrow at her words "On a court, hundreds of people watching. Flashes and cheering and scoring. I want to see that. I never did get the chance before, did I? Even when you got so far last year…"

Makoto snickered at that, because of course she would say something along those lines. Because of course she would think she would get to see a match with smiles and at least handshakes- There would plenty of smiling and laughing from his side, that much he had to admit with a crocked smirk and almost glowing eyes. But at the end of it, there would be none of that from her, because if he pushed aside the oblivious state she was left in while inside that room, she was not stupid and she would see what the idiot of the referee wouldn't even suspect. His eyes traveled through the untouched book on the side table, not the same title as the week before, nor the week before that, and surely there would be different one a week from now, but all in all the same title he himself had inside his own bag; timeless, really. Absolutely no awareness of what happened outside of that room.

Then, it was okay if she was left oblivious.

There was a reason, after all, why that was maybe the only thing he didn't let her see, the only idea he wouldn't let her confirm.

"If you think you won't get too jealous of fans screaming my name, maybe I'll tell you next time I have a big match"

Even if the beeping and it's slow rhythm made him grit his teeth, just like the green button or the numbers on that stupid, useless screen.

"It's a promise then"

"Are you stupid? Of course it's not"

 _It wouldn't be._


	2. Propinquity

A/N: Kanji readings can be divided in On Yomi and Kun Yomi. Depending on which one it is, the kanji can be read differently.

A/N: English is not my first language.

* * *

 _ **[Proh-ping-kwi-tee]**_

 _ **Noun. It refers to the physical or psychological proximity between people. Propinquity can mean physical proximity, a kinship between people, or a similarity in nature between things. Usually referred to with the common 'Like-attracts-like'.**_

* * *

 _To be honest, in their case it was nothing like an option, nor an election._

 _It was not a deep thing like 'friends are the family you choose', because it could have been everything but a choice. At least not theirs, absolutely, completely, and most certainly not theirs._

 _A pregnant woman, you see, is able to bond with great ease with another woman in her exact same state, so easy it could almost be labeled as scary. The chances are greater if their belly happened to be the same size or they bought clothes for the baby at the same shop, and there were even higher possibilities if they happened to have the same cravings, happened to go to the same yoga classes, happened to live in the same neighborhood, happened to be due just a few days apart from each other. Really, a friendship with fitting scenario to last the rest of their lives, something to tell people about over lunch or at dinner time, maybe with the invitation of meeting such a wonderful friend afterwards. Those two women choose to find support on each other, and truly, it never did fail, not even on the toughest times._

 _But the cherry on top of that ridiculously sweet ice cream was not the cravings, or the yoga positions, or the residential area. Not even the knitted little socks that would not fit in a couple of months' time, matching pieces that were not necessarily meant for the same baby. The final and undeniable thing that would make many laugh in a few years after that January the 21_ _st_ _, nine days after his own January the 12_ _th_ _, the ultimate weapon against those who believed destiny was nothing more than a made up excuse or over told fairy tale, was the coincidence that started the whole thing in the first place._

 **Because a couple of kanjis can change absolutely everything.**

 _"_ _Hanamiya Makoto"_

 _"_ _Here"_

 _"_ _Hanamoto Mako-"_

 _"_ _Sensei, you have to use the On Yomi reading for her name, not the Kun Yomi"_

 _"_ _Well, atually-"_

 _"_ _On Yomi " The hand that had previously been raised now rested on top of the desk, a dark and tick eyebrow twitched at the sound of a muffled snicker at his left, menacing eyes focused themselves on the hand that covered an still obvious smile, and to all the classroom and the teacher that had been interrupted but somehow couldn't bring himself to scold such attitude, the fact that he wasn't necessarily right became obvious by the time the girl grinned at his almost imperceptible scowl, apparently not bothered by the almost severe way he interrupted her as well. If anything, the emphasis made the corner of her lips curl into an even wider grin, to the point it could be mistaken for an overjoyed smile by those who didn't know better, body leaning in his direction in a manner that could and would only be called pure mockery "Right?"_

 _ **'Makoto-chan doesn't care? To not be called by her name'**_

 _ **'He is not exactly wrong, auntie. Makoto does have a point. Besides, I kind of like the other name a little bit more'**_

 _"_ _If you insist on being the one with the girly name, Makoto, then so be it. Yes, Hanamoto Sei over here, sensei"_

 **They were different from their mothers. They were not fans of the so called destiny, they didn't share such an exactly similar condition. So what did they bond over?**

 _If you asked them, there wouldn't be a serious answer._

 _First, the question would have to be changed; rephrased, if you will, because if not there was no way either of them would even know what to say. Then, the possible answers would discourage about anyone who was interested enough to ask, or more like anyone who had enough guts to stay put after Makoto snorted at the apparently stupid question, even when Sei openly laughed at his almost sinister expression. Actually, maybe everything could be summarized in the matching socks meant for newly born's feet buried somewhere on the attic of the Hanamiya household, a photo of a first day in elementary school, the tea set from that first time in Hokkaido, or the golden medals of that spelling contest on fourth grade. Maybe on the copies of the same book lying around, unfished, or the tickets of an amusement park that went to waste due to a sale of chocolate ice cream suddenly appearing on their way that sunny afternoon, even when they had been lucky enough to win the top prize at the only supermarket that seemed to sell decent coconut flavored popsicle._

 _Because, really, sometimes childhood friends didn't need to remember all the things they could have possibly bonded over. Being forced into a friendship with someone because of something as apparently important as 'coincidences' somehow took away lots of those formalities. Or maybe they were born with natural predisposition to each other's bad habits._


	3. Apophenia

**A/N: English is not my first language.**

 **A/N: I do not own KnB**

* * *

 **[Ap-o-phe-nia]**

 _Noun. The human tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things, such as objects or ideas, including random data._

* * *

 _Against what most probably was popular belief, Makoto didn't particularly dislike Christmas._

 _Besides the religious background that became easy to ignore at some point of his life after much dialoguing against general conviction and stating, unsurprisingly, at the age of nine just why he didn't need to church on Sunday, there was not a particular something he disliked about the celebration itself, even if it could hardly be called something he looked forward to. He had uncles, aunts, little cousins and grandparents that liked to share a large meal on the designed date, so even if the noise was not something he tolerated all that well, Kyoto's libraries were promising enough to make both the traveling and the eating easy to deal with._

 _It had been a mutual agreement that a tree was not necessary under their roof, because the ridiculous big ones on the streets or even in the building's lobby were more than enough to fill their share, and it was not like anyone would be there to see it or anything. The reservations on a hotel for New Year were always made even before December arrived, and maybe it had been a little bit too long since last time they had sat to properly exchanged gifts, maybe since they weren't kids anymore. And just like after class tutoring or those violin classes that didn't last the year, maybe that attempt of babysitter that did cry for 'unknown reasons', as stated in her resign letter, as many decorations were not as necessary anymore._

 _Thing was, Sei still liked Christmas lights._

 _"How much tape did you use?"_

 _"I lost count after five boxes"_

 _"Is that wire?"_

 _"It is"_

 _The apartment's own lights were off to the very last one of them, but Makoto could safely and quite obviously say it was not dark. Actually, with the dozens upon thousands of lights covering every inch of the living room's ceiling, and to certain extent even the kitchen's, the place was anything but dark. Red, blue, green, yellow, purple, white, and even grey lights carefully coordinated and arranged in what seemed to be an explosive pattern were attached to the ceiling by a mix of almost invisible tape and thin strings of wire that together looked more like an extremely complicate net than anything else, and even Makoto had to pause for a moment if he intended to take in the whole thing; once he was done, not more than a couple of seconds after closing the door behind him, the basketball player made his way inside his living room._

 _The furniture was back to its original place from being pushed to allow more space and the ladder was nowhere to be seen, just like the empty boxes of tape and whatever had to be used to put all of that together were already away from sight, but instead of drinking from the steaming cup of tea that was left on top of the table, Sei laid on the sofa with legs hanging over the armrest and strands of black hair held back by a unusual ponytail, eyes going over the lights again, and again, and again. It was almost as if she didn't notice the person who sat besides her head, or the arm that rested on the back of the sofa, or the hand that stole her tea without as much as a blink._

 _"Companies use the holiday to sell a pointless amount of season themed products and you use it to do what you please with whatever you get your hands on" He glanced once more at what was over their heads, because it was virtually impossible not to stare at what wasn't there in the morning. There was no surprise in how fast it was up and ready, because surely the net was already something she had prepared beforehand, and there was no surprise in finding it was a bigger project than last year, or the year before that; because boredom, depending on who you asked, did amazing things to people "You both sure know how to exploit an excuse when you secure one"_

 _"Glue wasn't so fun to clean of, besides, the wall wasn't so tempting this year" She didn't move either, eyes still glued to the ceiling, palms of her hands pressed together and fingers under her chin in a contemplative manner. After a moment she frowned "And I hate ginger cookies, and glittery. Why does everything have glittery these days? I'm sure there is no shame on selling a stuffed toys without a ton of pixy dust on it"_

 _"I do wonder how to call you if you happen to like what you are allergic to" Makoto muttered under his breathe, because the picture of a franatic first grade teacher calling an ambulance and Sei's mother during lunch while said girl reacted maybe a little bit too badly at the cookies that were for dessert was still fresh on his memory. He was about to say something else, maybe to comment on how much of a pain packing was, or ask when ether they could skip the meal this year an go directly to the bookshop or something like that, when his eyes caught on something that made him stay silent for a moment or two, gaze still fixe on the ceiling._

 _When the pattern resembled a picture on his memory, maybe of their classroom on third grade when they were meant to be taught something he had already read about, it was enough to make Makoto take a moment to let the realization sink in. Something printed on the cover of a concurrent book their Physics teacher liked to show around most probably for the heck of tormenting those who had the nerve to fail her tests, liking the idea of messing their minds with what apparently were 'complex' diagrams and 'senseless' representations. Makoto raised an eyebrow at the discovery, eyes going all over the design once more._

 _"Why is the map of the galaxy on the ceiling of my house?"_

 _"Because there wasn't enough space on mine, and I had the feeling the concierge wasn't going to be happy if I continued on the hallway- You should go and see, even I have to admit the Solar System has never looked prettier"_


	4. Semiotics

**Happy new year!**

 **A/N: English is not my first language**

 **A/N: I do not own Knb**

* * *

 **[See-mee-ot-iks]**

 _Noun. The study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior; the analysis of systems of communication, as language, gestures, or clothing._

* * *

It was the autumn of their third year of High School when they meet.

If a third party happened to be present, or at least aware of the situation and circumstances behind the two teenagers that were to learn of the other that day, there was no way of not thinking 'it was a matter of time', no way of turning a blind eye to the situation and no way of not perceiving the bitter irony tainting the corners of the realization. Maybe it _was_ Time, maybe it was fate or destiny, maybe it was karma, but even if it _were_ one of the options or the doing of a god Sei would never know for certain; there were many things that could be called by a name and known by a definition in this world, but that didn't automatically make them fit enough to be perceived as real. For some, a name and a way of recognize it was enough, just like for many a proof was needed, even when both sides heavily and quite frequently used the word 'true' and the word 'real' to argue in their favor.

As she sat down on the cold step of the stair, completely sure the door just ahead was mocking her by standing so close and yet unreachable, grey eyes vaguely focused on the other side of the wall as she leaned the back of her head against the hard material itself, there were many, many, _many_ _ **obvious**_ truths, so real and not so far away. And the most realistic one, surely, without a doubt, no matter how abstract it might sound, was the fact that he was there.

"Are you alright?"

He was tall, oh so tall, to the point it was almost a blessing the fact that he was standing a handful of steps below her and not the other way around; Sei could almost feel her neck hurting as she imagined herself trying to constantly look at his face, no matter how much practice she had had in the past tall guys and even bigger egos, discarding the idea that maybe the pain was not so imaginary. And he was terribly nice, the kind of people that literally irradiated fuzzy and warm feelings, something she realized almost immediately if the almost hurried movements in her direction were anything to go by- But Sei really didn't want anything to hurt more than it already was, because she was no masochist, no matter how good his intentions were or how deep his frown was or how worried he looked at the prospect of a stranger needing help, so she nodded her head before the guy could get any closer.

"I am okay, sorry for surprising you like this"

Somehow it wasn't that much of a shock when he didn't get the hint, or blatantly ignored it which was as valid as any other possibility, and crossed the space that was left between the two of them until he was standing on the step just below the one she was using as temporary chair, and somehow, Sei saw his intentions even before he crouched down, making it easy for her to keep her eyes low and her neck free of extra pain. Her lips curled up ever so slightly, growing in size as she hummed quite lowly in appreciation, because it was not every day you saw someone who was natural at both empathy and sympathy- _The kind of person who doesn't realize it himself, no doubt_. He frowned while looking quite serious, disbelief almost written all over his face and irradiating through his body language when she didn't make to move another inch, brown eyes focused on her face and she just had the feeling he was trying to persuade her only with that.

 _Young, he was young as well. Same age as them maybe._

"Excuse me for saying this, but you don't even look fine"

 _Yes, terribly nice._

It started as a chuckle, then there was a soft laugh.

By the time he blinked again, Sei was laughing the hardest she had laughed in days, wondering just were the energy was coming from. She was not going to question it though, because it was good for her; it was good to feel this way, it was good to laugh to the point it hurt, a little bit too much, a little bit more than normal. It was good her voice didn't flutter, and it was good he didn't question her reaction; it was good her hand didn't automatically reach for the painkillers that most obviously wasn't there anyway, and it definitely was a good thing he was there. When she noticed her laugher didn't as much as change his facial expression, but not the feeling that he was quite literally irradiating, the girl did her best to stop herself, hand reaching the arc of her nose with a heavy motion until she was able to breathe properly, smile not going away as she glanced at him.

"There is nothing to excuse, I know it myself. I appreciate honesty when I hear it, though, I think is adequate, especially when I _am_ wearing pajamas at twelve in the afternoon, adds to the whole hospital look. Even how you choose to phrase it in a way so different from what I'm used to" She saw the appeal, how pretty and less dramatic many things sounded when phrased in certain way, but didn't necessarily see the need behind it. He didn't look worried anymore- As a matter of fact, she wasn't sure of what he was feeling as he stared, quite blankly, at her wrist. Heck, he probably wasn't sure himself "Is there something wrong?"

He blinked, focusing on her face again, lips slightly parted in what could almost be identified as a voiceless remark. Sei observed him and his actions, head slightly tilted to one side, as one would observe a cautious animal at the other side of a glass, like that one visit to the zoo "I'm sorry" Before she could continue with her thoughts he shook his head, maybe a little bit too fast, maybe a little bit to forced, maybe a little bit too necessary for himself to settle back on the moment and time. That didn't mean, however, that the almost knowing look went away "Your name just…. It's almost the exact same name as someone I know"

She read the thing herself, the thing and uncomfortable band of plastic around her wrist, printed letters spelling out her name, the closest thing to a name tag she had had since kindergarten when she had shared the cat's drawing for her tag with Makoto because, well, the teacher didn't exactly find a way to explain why they should choose something different from each other "It's not read like you think…. Oh wait, it's read exactly like that. Now you'll have to excuse me, as of lately I tend to forget some things, happens when you are stuck in the same place for a long time" He almost absently nodded alongside her words, frowning ever so slightly. Sei tried to be nice about it, smiling at the bit of information leaving her mouth "But I do know someone who has a really similar name as well" _There's something…. There._ Yes, there it was, the expressionless struggle trying to maintain its reign on his face- Sei could remember seeing that lots of that, the face of someone who didn't know how to feel, starting with the connections his brain was already making. What was he thinking about? There was no way of knowing, there was no way of knowing what others thought, _she knew that, it didn't work with everybody_ , that's why she continued to talk "He must be eating my dessert as we speak. No doubt the nurses left the tray in my room when they noticed I was gone" She would have chuckled or snorted, whatever came out first, but she found that she couldn't. She didn't need to look at a watch to know just how much time he had been there, staring at nothing "They should be here at any minute now"

"Isn't he worried?"

"Is there something to be worried about? If I get tired I sit down, you see me now. Not bleeding, there is no broken neck. Just tired" To be completely honest it was unfair to say that, to ask him to take a closer look, and it could be seen as sadist to many; there was a lot to see in her appearance, a lot to take in and know what was going on, maybe not exactly, maybe not a complete diagnosis. There was no need of being a genius, but you _needed_ to be a really kind or really dense person to not _see_ that unhealthy air almost every single person in her floor had, and she had just the guy in front of her, still looking at her like he wasn't satisfied with what she was saying. How long was it really? Since the last time she needed to go into so much detail, since she had talked to someone who didn't know everything about it already "Really, I'm only giving him the chance to tease me. It was fool's chance, I know it" She dragged her eyes almost lazily in his general direction "You look healthy, what are you doing here?"

Maybe it was the choice of words and the obvious comparison behind them, the comparison between him and her, but the guy seemed to ponder something inside his head before even considering answering her question. There it was again, the expressionless struggle, the tension on the shoulders and the jaw, the adverting eyes and the somehow knowing look.

"Checkup. Surgery on the knee"

"Did it hurt?"

She didn't miss a beat.

"The surgery?"

They guy didn't sound surprise.

"The reason why you had it"

He paused.

Her brain paused as well.

It was by no means something planned our expected, maybe not as welcome as an epiphany would have been, all because Sei had known exactly where to look when it happened. The tension and the pondering and the knowing look disappeared in what seemed to be an empty second, almost literally stopping time just to make that small but big change in his features, a not at all small smile appearing in his face and stretching to the side until she was tempted to close her eyes just to not be blinded by the way it seemed to shine. There was no way of knowing if they would have meet each other under different circumstances, not that Sei knew of at least, just like there was no way of proving he didn't already know what she was missing of the situation; it would stay with her as long as needed, the realization that time did move outside that hospital.

"I had more important things to worry about at that moment" He said, smile not even moving an inch. The girl blinked and wisely shut her mouth before any invasive questioning could present itself, trying hard not to laugh at herself, trying even harder to not look away for even a second. _It was good_ , _all of that was good_ , one way or another and she tried to remind herself for that, because maybe it was meant to happen since a long time ago "Did it hurt?" It took Sei a moment to realize it was a question and she was meant to answer, another moment to identify the relation and point out the proper answer.

She chuckled, shaking her head ever so slightly "I'm afraid that what I've been through cannot be called surgery"

"The reason why you are here"

 _Did it now?_

 _Maybe it was._

 _Either way, it has been enough._

"You really are nice" Sei chuckled, not trying to close her eyes, consciously trying to avoid the dramatic touch it would give the whole thing. She could just see it, a romantic movie of some sort, a sick girl with the handsome guy that for some reason finds her beautiful- Thing was, that wasn't how everything worked in their little reality, no matter how much of a pleasure it had been. That wasn't how things even worked on their books or their destiny themed life. The girl grimaced, resting the back of her head against the wall again "Too nice" There was a screech. He looked down the stairs and at the door that lead to them at the loud banging and almost far away swearing, female voices raising in the lower levels and reaching their ears; Sei found the will to grin at it and even snort at the low key profanities, almost like an alarm setting off just at the adequate time "You have about thirty four seconds to walk away before they find me, therefore you as well, and suffer the loudest scolding of your life; this is not the first time I've done this, they are not amused by that, I can tell by the way they carry around sedatives. You would believe nurses to be pacific, but see where generalization has brought me. Go"

You would think he was going to question her the moment he looked at her face again, but that didn't happen. Sei didn't check on the banging and the screaming until he was standing and walking down the steps, not looking at her again until there was more space between each other than him and the door. The smile was not there anymore, and the knowing look was back to the eyes that searched for the plastic thing resembling a name tag once more. But that was the trick behind the whole thing, because there was no way she would suddenly and out of the blue believe in something as dreamy as destiny.

 _It was the same look she had given him._

"That's not the reason, am I right? That's not the reason he is not worried"

 _Too nice, he_ _ **is**_ _too nice._

"Twenty nine seconds"

He still didn't hesitate at reaching the door before the voices could get loud enough and the banging dangerous enough, because it was what she had asked for. He really didn't know how good he was at being himself, not different from the type of person anyone could like; maybe under other circumstances.

"My name is Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi Teppei"

She smiled.

"Yeah, I figured"


	5. Moiety

**A/N: I do not own KnB.**

 **A/N: English is not my first language.**

* * *

 **[Moi-i-tee]**

 _ **Noun .Two parts into which a thing is or can be divided**_

* * *

 _There wasn't a moment when Makoto thought something was wrong, not even when the elevator's door opened to reveal how Hanamoto Tsubaki slowly and soundlessly sobbed into a handkerchief while sitting in the middle of the hallway that separated their apartment from hers, his own mother sitting by her side with a hand on her friend's back and a frustrated, almost defeated looking scowl on her face- It was the first time in his life he saw such an expression in that woman's face, but even then, the word 'wrong' didn't cross his mind, no alarms went off. Neither of them looked at him, if anything, his mother fixed her eyes on the other woman's head quite determinedly and the sobbing emitted a single sound, enough proof that not only her state went from bad to worse, but that he was most probably the cause behind the change._

 _That wasn't the reason though as to why he calmly twisted the key with his right hand and pressed the lobby bottom before the doors closed once more, leaving him to stare at his reflection on the thing without a single, concrete, productive idea of what he was going to do now that he had successfully evaded such a scene. Believe it when it was said that Makoto didn't particularly mind pressing another bottom and going to his floor again after he had enough clearance of mind, walking inside his house and locking his room's door behind him, but he was already more than halfway through the building and seeing what he had just seen once more was too much trouble for him. If the boy had learnt something in his fourteen years of life, was that when one of those two women cried, the best thing you could do was to leave it to the other one to comfort her friend._

 _"_ _Makoto-kun" The guard greeted with a smile when he walked out of the elevator, and the youngest one present thought it was because he somehow related a nice behavior to a larger pay check at the end of the month, but it was not like he felt the need to say that aloud, and taking in consideration that same guard meant easy access to a place where no one would think of looking for them, it was easier to pretend to be nice or at least not to be that much of a the jerk he knew he was. So Makoto nodded 'politely', hands tucked inside his pockets, mentally pondering his options as to what to do now; maybe, somewhere inside the building would suffice, since it was pouring outside "If you are looking for Sei-chan, she is in the staff room"_

 _The guy nodded discreetly towards the door besides the doorman's cabin, and the boy stared at him like another head had grown on his shoulders, a frown slowly but surely making its way to his face, scowling at the bright smile on the man's face like it was personally insulting him, or at least because the suffix to her name sounded far too childish and quite tasteless. Scoffing, the young boy continued to stare at him "I'm not looking for her"_

 _The guy had the guts to chuckle._

 _"_ _Funny, she said the same thing about you"_

 _There weren't many kids their age living on that building, and the amount of tutors going in and out every single week was helped the whole security staff to remember their surnames. It was a matter of time until even their faces were known and their personalities were portrayed as 'kids who grew up too fast'; it became a good thing when, in what could only be identified as naive innocence, they were allowed from time to time inside the staff room in order 'to be taught something different' from their music or English classes. It was the first time Makoto had actually held a dart with his own two hands, finding that it was not as difficult as people portrayed it once you found the right technique, and since that day it had become a rule to be the good kids in front of the guards that were fooled by polite greetings and conversation here and there. Finding a place with good furniture, AC, and TV where to hide when disliked relatives showed up had been way too easy._

 _So a minute later, with a muttered 'I was going there anyway', Makoto found himself opening the door of said room with a bored look on his face. At first, Sei did not even look up from the cards arranged on top of the table, but she did say something after swallowing the piece of popsicle she had bite off the treat, thing that make him look at the thing just to make sure it was not the same poopsicle he had bought and hide on the fridge the day before. He snorted, because anyway it was the same flavor and the same presentation._

 _"_ _Did you know the convenience store near the corner has the coconut and chocolate flavored Popsicle?"_

 _"_ _I told you about it"_

 _She blinked at him._

 _"_ _You did?" The girl leaned against the back of the sofa for a moment, looking mentally and physically taken back. There was an awkward grimace in her face in a second time "I guess that conversation did happen"_

 _Judging by the way she calmly played a card game while eating the only thing that could possibly combine what they both had bought separately all they life in single item without making the combination gross, he assumed she had not thought of anything as 'wrong' either, but the fact that she was in a staff room playing with cards that were not hers instead of inside her own house, told him that she had walked away from the scene as well, probably not having a concrete reason either. It wasn't exactly running away because there was nothing to run away from, not that he knew of anyway, but the undeniable truth was that something had happened and they both didn't feel as bad about it as their mothers._

 _But the way her fingers twitched at the same time as his was enough proof that it had been a bad day to leave their books in their rooms instead of carrying them on their bags as usual. So at the end of it, he still found himself on the stupid need to ask._

 _"_ _And? What's happening up there?"_

 _Sei didn't shrug but at first, she didn't say anything either. Her movements paused, she didn't reach for a card for a couple of seconds while she seemed to think about a proper answer, playing with the one that was already in her hand absentmindedly, and why was she wearing their schools uniform anyway? It was not like she had attended classes, almost as if he had not been asked countless of times by teachers why 'Hanamoto-san was not in class and how strange that was', like he knew exactly where she was when not in school even when he did know, but he extremely sure it was sure it was not their business. Shaking her head, the girl returned to the game, tilting her head to one side._

 _"_ _I can tell you it's better than when I was with them. Somehow, being there made everything worse, so I left, didn't like my mom crying like she was looking at a ghost"_

 _There was a white, kind of torn envelop on top of the table just besides her elbow with an almost fresh looking seal on the left corner, wrinkled on the sides like someone had been holding onto it rightly and for a long time, but by the looks of it, she had not been the responsible for such thing- If anything, the girl probably was the one who took the envelop before it could be shedder by someone else. The crest was not exactly recognizable from where he was standing, but there was something to the way it innocently existed that was almost too obvious for Makoto to not maybe move without actually thinking about it, and grab the thing before his brain could jump into conclusions he was not exactly sure of, because there was little that could annoy him more than not knowing the precise and exact true of things. Sei took some cards out of the deck when he sat down at her right, barely blinking when he took out the paper out of the envelop and not doing as much as licking the popsicle again when he opened the folded thing, eyes focused on what she was doing._

 _"_ _There was a movie about it" She said after a short while, no more than a few seconds, cleaning the corner of her mouth with a napkin before biting what little was left of the popsicle, shuddering slightly when her brain literally went could, wincing ever so slightly as she made to grab another card. Being him Makoto couldn't have read more than a couple of lines by the she settled for eating the rest of the treat, but whatever was written on that thing, those first lines were enough to understand what she was talking about immediately "Only I'm not blonde, and I most certainly do not know how to dance, and I do not have a dog. If I get that Abercrombie model looking doctor I'm not complaining though; not that I have anything against Dr. Tachibana. I'm sure his wife loves his baldness very much" The girl nodded at herself "And I don't remember meeting anyone dressed in white, nor being granted three wishes. What would my interpretation of god be? Foucault? It would have been hilarious if it had been Bakunin"_

 _There were more than two hundred types of cancer identified by the scientific world._

 _1 in 2 people in the United Kingdom were expected to have cancer at least once in their life time, and if you did the math, then you would realize people had more chances of discovering tomorrow they had cancer than being in a car accident in the next three to five days. If it appeared in the brain, even the smallest tumor would have an almost immediate effect on the functioning of the same, but if it appeared in somewhere like the pancreas, then the host would take a little bit more of time to realize that something was most certainly wrong with their own bodies, and it would take a little bit more for a doctor to suggest the right tests to make. It was as sickening as a game of hide and seek, only that even if you found it, that didn't mean you were the automatic winner._

 _Literally having cancer in your ass just was a downside of the whole thing._

 _It was not like in a book, or in a self-pitying monologue of a movie that tried to sound philosophical but in the end it was just fill in words- Makoto did not read the paper over and over and over again just to make sure he was, in fact, reading well. He only needed one time to understand what the results were and what they meant, there was no need for meaningless sputter or something equally absurd, so he lowered the paper and folded it again, tucking the report inside the innocent looking envelop. One thing did remain the same, but at the same time it didn't: His mind was blank, but not because he didn't know what to think, but because he just didn't think about anything at all. There was no major chemical reaction on his brain, there was no trembling, but there was the certainty that if it had been him, a torn and probably stepped on envelop would have been the nicest part of his reaction._

 _"_ _Oh, look Makoto" She called without a single change on her voice, not looking at the envelope and not precisely because she was ignoring it or anything of the sorts. The boy looked up from the thing just in time to see her cleaning the wooden stick with the napkin, a sideways grin present on her face, something like dry amusement present on her eyes when she turned the stick for him to see the words carved on the top. Speaking about winners and about ironic realities, thinking about karma and what could possibly had been the only thing Hanamiya Makoto didn't want to think about and actually achieved it; probably, the only pair of teenagers that could laugh at the irony of the situation with not so relatively raw humor while playing Solitario "Life just gave me a compensation prize"_

 ** _Years later, Imayoshi Shouichi, who had been the first one at their Middle School to mention the 'two sides of the same thing' logic, would comment that Makoto did his job on proving that, yes, karma was a bitch, without being the one lying on a hospital bed._**

 _But at the time, it still was their second year of Middle School, so they didn't need to think about that just yet._

* * *

 **Guess the movie?**


End file.
